G/T elementary students in Lafayette were among those who urged BESE to save the program.
After receiving a barrage of calls and e-mails from worried and outraged parents and students in the Gifted and Talented Program across southwest Louisiana — “to the tune of probably 300 or more” — District 7 Board of Elementary and Secondary Education member Dale Bayard says G/T in Louisiana is safe, as far as he’s concerned.
“First off,” Bayard says, “I am absolutely against changing the Gifted and Talented Program. Secondly, in our quest to continue to improve education, it would seem to me that we need to push the current high achievers and push other students into the high-achievement level.”
The brouhaha over eliminating the Gifted and Talented Program has its genesis in opposition to G/T by the Louisiana Association of Special Education Administrators, which last spring sent a letter to the state Department of Education. In it, the association’s then-president, Susan Vaughn, wrote, “We question the ability of anyone to prove that a student with a 4.0 GPA needs special education services because his educational performance is significantly affected. Rather, we believe that all students should have the opportunity to be challenged by curriculum and instruction that pushes them to reach their potential.”
Gifted/Talented programs statewide are administered through special education, and the association that represents special ed administrators argues that G/T siphons resources from children with learning disabilities who comprise the vast majority of special education students statewide. There are about 23,000 G/T students in Louisiana.
State law mandates that special education students are entitled to an Individualized Education Program and that instructional programs be offered for free. By removing G/T from special ed, G/T students wouldn’t be entitled to an IEP. A source at the Lafayette Parish School System says opposition to G/T comes mainly from superintendents and special-ed coordinators in rural parishes, which struggle to fund additional classes for G/T students. But LPSS spokeswoman Angie Simoneaux says the Lafayette school system fully supports G/T programs in the parish and is opposed to changes or elimination of G/T.
That position is backed by Melinda Mangham, a retired Lafayette Parish teacher who administered the Gifted program at Lafayette High School, which has the highest concentration of G/T students in the parish. “I just can’t even conceive of doing away with something that has been as successful as this program is,” Mangham says. “I have taught in some of the best schools in the state, and I just cannot tell you what an incredible program the Gifted program is. And I can tell you not only is it an incredible program for the kids that are in the Gifted program, but it is an incredible program for the teachers.”
Lafayette Parish has roughly 1,400 students in G/T — about 1,200 in Gifted, which serves students who excel in academics, and the remainder in Talented, designed for high achievers in the arts. Mangham argues G/T teaches critical life skills. “You’re teaching kids to think,” she says. “We know these kids are going to change not jobs but careers maybe six times in their lifetimes. And they’re going to invent their jobs. So if we don’t teach these kids how to be critical thinkers, how to be creative, we’re in big trouble.”
The issue has only slowly come to the attention of parents of G/T students, and to the teachers who educate them. When word that the special-ed association was trying to get G/T removed from special education protections — a move that many believe would effectively kill G/T — Gifted and Talented teachers in Lafayette Parish sent an urgent letter to parents:
“Dear Parents,
We have recently been informed of possible changes to be made to the way that gifted and talented students receive services. Currently, your child is guaranteed services through their [Individualized Education Program], and funding for gifted and talented services comes from the State Department of Education.
The State Special Education Directors Group and the State Superintendents are in support of removing Gifted and Talented programs from the protection of the Special Education umbrella. Both groups advocate making gifted and talented services a “local option”, subject to budget cuts and funding issues. They also advocate removing the guarantee of services for gifted and talented students. If this happens, your child is in danger of losing their rights to gifted and talented services. The gifted and talented program would certainly be interrupted, lessened, or probably cease to exist altogether.
You have a strong voice as a parent and voter. Please take the time to let BESE and our local school board know that they should vote to keep Bulletin 1706 as written and protect the rights of our children. Our programs have been an avenue for ALL Louisiana gifted and talented students to receive the educational services they need to grow and prosper.
Any BESE member may be contacted at this email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it BESE members will vote on this issue in October or November, so PLEASE contact the BESE board and our local school board members as soon as possible to voice your opinion on this issue.
Thanks for your support of our program and of your gifted child.”
Bayard says changes to G/T are unlikely because of widespread opposition to even broaching the idea among BESE members. “I do believe at least seven of my colleagues, or maybe six of my colleagues, have said they don’t want to change it. Six is a simple majority, and counting me would be seven.”
There had been talk of putting the topic onto BESE’s October agenda, which has not yet been released. Bayard has his doubts the topic will even make the agenda: “The Department of Education would be doing the right thing to just eliminate [it from the agenda] completely. Why discuss it — especially if it’s going to be dead in the water?”
In the meantime, BESE members continue to get hammered by parents and students in the G/T Program. As one elementary student in Lafayette Parish’s talent program put it in a letter to BESE obtained by The Independent: “I think this idea is the WORST idea in the world. Kind of like your jumping into a pit of lava. I love theatre cause life is a picture with colors. But if we didn’t have Talented theatre the colors would be gone and we would all die.
... written by elle peshoff , September 30, 2009 - 02:00 pm
This feud between LASEA and SPARK/G&T has been going on at least as long as I've been alive, and it's not about helping students with disabilities as much as it is the last round of budget cuts, which were being debated when Vaughn, wearing her lobbyist's hat, sent her letter.
G&T has more friends in the Legislature than programs for learning and physical disabilities, and Vaughn believed threatening G&T was safer than threatening disability programs to goad more money from lawmakers for IEPs.
As the article states, LASEA wants more money to help students with learning disabilities, and the opposition comes from rural schools and parishes because participation is G&T is usually limited to 2-3 kids per school, if there's any at all.
I agree with Vaughn's point - that curricula should be shaped around the students and nothing else - but that's unrealistic in Louisiana and moreso under NCLB, and pinning G&T exclusively to education by insinuating that those students get nothing else from the program shows she has no idea what G&T programs are designed to do.
Obviously G&T kids don't need any help in the classroom. They don't just get 4.0s, they sleep through class and get 4.0s. These are the kids who don't have to work hard to succeed, who get held up from skipping grades not because of academics but because of concerns over social development, and precious few classroom teachers are going to cater to the pace of the one student who can complete a year's coursework in a month at the expense of the other 29 kids in the class - parents would howl.
Without G&T programs, most of them would underachieve through their entire educational career, doing the minimum required because they can get away with it, and get caught with their pants down once they get to college and have to finally learn how to study and socialize.
There's nobody in LASEA looking out for students _without_ disabilities, which is wrong and a violation of their national organization's charter and mission. But in Louisiana it's understandable, because in maybe three-quarters of the state all these administrators see are the 20-30 children under their supervision who have learning and physical disabilities; they bus the school's two or three G&T kids to another program, where they assume they do nothing but goof off all day.
This is the wrong fight to have. Both of these programs deserve funding. LASEA is going to waste resources as they run into some very powerful, connected, vocal opponents who have strong ties to G&T. G&T and non-rural schools are wasting resources and political capital by essentially fighting to keep money away from disabled children.
All this when we should be asking how much money BOTH sides of the debate need to fully fund their programs, WHY they weren't given that money in the budget, and what STUPID CRAP did get funded instead of this.
... written by Clint Reno , September 30, 2009 - 06:01 pm
So take away the GT program. I wonder where those students will go now? To private schools and/or home school. I can assure you very few if any would stay in public education. OK, now what about the "test scores?" When the drop occurrs, what will happen now? Less funding, fewer opportunity for pay raises, and lower school rankings? I believe that the only reason these students are in public education today IS the GT program.
... written by cochon , September 30, 2009 - 06:42 pm
Special education has always been disabled-centric. The brutal truth is that our gifted students need just as much in the way of programs and services but rarely get it. The notion that g/t kids can "get it by themselves" is outmoded and contradicted by both logic and data. Freed from the state mandate to provide services, many local systems will doubtless curtail or simply eliminate them. To often, in this state, smart folks are looked on as a liability.
... written by Lorraine M. Thornton , September 30, 2009 - 10:28 pm
It is finally time that smeone speak up for our G/T students. They have been neglected for so many years, yet persevered for so many more with the help of teachers who are creative enough to provide them with activities that develop critical thinking skills lacking in their regular classroom settings. I say this because I have been one of these teachers working with them for over 20 years. My students just today mentioned how boring it iis in their regular classes and how they hate to leave when I come to work with them.
... written by Beau Dupont , October 01, 2009 - 03:20 pm
Children with disabilities are protected by a federal mandate. The BESE board and our state legislature can not touch their funding or threaten to remove their services. That is the difference between them and the GT side of special education. GT is protected by a state mandate. I'm glad to see Mr. Bayard understands the importance of the state laws protecting the rights of GT students. We should be able to offer proper services to both the children with disabilities and those with exceptionalities.
... written by Julia Elfman , October 01, 2009 - 03:58 pm
Louisiana has the best gifted/talented program in the United States. Why take the one area where we shine and do away with our one area where we can brag that LOUISIANA IS THE BEST! Leave the program alone. If it works, don't change it! I've had many students return to my classroom and tell me how much they learned as a result of the freedom and creativity allowed in the gifted class. It's a real pleasure to hear from these students whom I taught 20 or so years ago. I am never at a loss to say, "thank you" for being in my class. I learned a lot from each of you, and now you have growm. I still look forward to hearing from my students. Julia Elfman
... written by uptown jaybird everybody knows , October 05, 2009 - 10:08 pm
I was one of those kids who was smart enough to be stupid as they say. I went to school before the idea of multiple intelligences was applied and constantly got detention for drawing in class by teachers that didnt realize that if I was drawing, I was listening. I aced everything because I was a latchkey kid who didnt have a home and spent most of my time in a library reading everything they had. In class, when I wasn't allowed to draw, I made trouble constantly. If there would have been a TAV program then, I would have finished school. I dropped out and got my GED; too many fights, too much trouble.
Susan's reasoning is pedestrian, mentally flawed and transparent.
I have a loved one who works in the TAV program and I can tell you that most if not all of these kids do not have 4.0s. We'd like them to and if they get there, its to the TAv program's credit, not to some rat like Susan.
... written by give me a break , October 06, 2009 - 05:17 pm
LOL Clint!!! call up a parochial school and tell them their child is gifted.they will tell you "you need to contact the public school system. we don't offer gifted classes." at least, that's what they told ME.
... written by Carrie , October 10, 2009 - 03:41 am
On the Agenda for Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Special Education and Section 504 issues 1. Consideration of revisions to Bulletin 1706, Subpart 2, The Regulations for the Gifted and Talented Students. (September 2009) (deferred until October)
... written by Angie , October 11, 2009 - 12:38 am
Back in July, I wrote a blog entry regarding this very issue. I was notified by a friend who still has one child in the school system there in Louisiana. I now live and teach gifted in TX. I can offer my experience as both a parent and an educator in the field.
... written by Clint Reno , October 15, 2009 - 02:29 pm
Give me a break, I did not say that parochial schools had a gifted program. I don't believe that they do. The point is that a GT student will most likely not stay in the public education system if the program is removed. I know mine wouldn't.
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G&T has more friends in the Legislature than programs for learning and physical disabilities, and Vaughn believed threatening G&T was safer than threatening disability programs to goad more money from lawmakers for IEPs.
As the article states, LASEA wants more money to help students with learning disabilities, and the opposition comes from rural schools and parishes because participation is G&T is usually limited to 2-3 kids per school, if there's any at all.
I agree with Vaughn's point - that curricula should be shaped around the students and nothing else - but that's unrealistic in Louisiana and moreso under NCLB, and pinning G&T exclusively to education by insinuating that those students get nothing else from the program shows she has no idea what G&T programs are designed to do.
Obviously G&T kids don't need any help in the classroom. They don't just get 4.0s, they sleep through class and get 4.0s. These are the kids who don't have to work hard to succeed, who get held up from skipping grades not because of academics but because of concerns over social development, and precious few classroom teachers are going to cater to the pace of the one student who can complete a year's coursework in a month at the expense of the other 29 kids in the class - parents would howl.
Without G&T programs, most of them would underachieve through their entire educational career, doing the minimum required because they can get away with it, and get caught with their pants down once they get to college and have to finally learn how to study and socialize.
There's nobody in LASEA looking out for students _without_ disabilities, which is wrong and a violation of their national organization's charter and mission. But in Louisiana it's understandable, because in maybe three-quarters of the state all these administrators see are the 20-30 children under their supervision who have learning and physical disabilities; they bus the school's two or three G&T kids to another program, where they assume they do nothing but goof off all day.
This is the wrong fight to have. Both of these programs deserve funding. LASEA is going to waste resources as they run into some very powerful, connected, vocal opponents who have strong ties to G&T. G&T and non-rural schools are wasting resources and political capital by essentially fighting to keep money away from disabled children.
All this when we should be asking how much money BOTH sides of the debate need to fully fund their programs, WHY they weren't given that money in the budget, and what STUPID CRAP did get funded instead of this.